Alumni Spotlight: Eric Christian (’10 B.F.A. Theatre Design and Technology)

Eric Christian is a 2010 alumnus of the B.F.A. Design and Technology Program. Since his graduation, he has worked in almost every area of the entertainment industry including theatre, live music, studio, broadcast and live streaming. He won an Emmy for his work as one of the lighting directors for the production of “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” which was broadcast on NBC in 2018.

Eric’s interest in theatre started when he was in fourth grade and his brother was working as a theatre sound designer. Eric decided to focus on lighting and never looked back.

“It's awkward when I bump into friends from middle school and they ask what I've been up to and my response is ‘same stuff,’ though the scale of productions has certainly grown,” he said.

He joked that if he hadn’t gone into lighting he would have been a rock-climbing guide.

“It's the only other thing I'm remotely good at,” he said. “I've been climbing since the same forth grade time period so I wouldn't even have to change my answer when I run into childhood friends.”

When it was time to choose a college, he gravitated towards Penn State because he said he really enjoyed the dichotomy between the massive university that is Penn State and the very small, tight-knit community of the School of Theatre. Even though most of his time was spent in the smaller community of the arts district, he said on football game day that “there's something special about being in a stadium screaming with 105,000 other people.”

One of his favorite experiences at Penn State was being part of an original theatrical production in 2008.

“Apart from working with close friends, it was really exciting to work on a new piece,” he said. “No matter how pious designers try to be, it's hard not to know what came before without any preconceived notions such as ‘Les Mis always has a turntable,’ doors really open up creatively.”

That itch for doing something new continued to be a theme in Eric’s career.

“I very intentionally bounce around within the entertainment industry. I started young doing primarily theater but after high school I expanded out to include parties and a bit of live music,” he said. “After college, I was still primarily in theatre in the off-Broadway circuit while still doing parties, corporate events, fashion shows and nightclubs to fill out my calendar.”

As technology changed, Eric said it opened up even more doors.

“In the early 2010s, I was doing more and more live music when out of nowhere cameras and live streaming became incredibly accessible. Suddenly, every festival in the world had a live-stream element and I very quickly had to learn how cameras interpret our lighting, and how to play nice with the broadcast team,” he said.

Eric said that unique combo of live entertainment aesthetic and equipment knowledge along with rudimentary technical camera knowledge positioned him very well for a career pivot that he never even considered— TV.

“Suddenly, I was doing lots of broadcast working on inserts and musical performances for mostly late-night programs such as SNL, Fallon, The Late Show with Colbert, as well as tons of comedy specials,” he said.

And it wasn’t just the entertainment industry. He was doing lots of massive scale brand events for huge companies such as Nike, Tiffany and many others.

“Events I had never given a second thought to—such as product launches—were becoming some of the largest scale shows I've ever worked on, often with thousands of moving lights and miles of LED products,” he said.

Other highlights in his career involve working on Hasan Minaj’s “Patriot Act,” moving The Kelly Clarkson Show to NYC and creating arena productions for artists like Post Malone, Drake, John Summit and most recently Shakira’s stadium world tour.

“Having a front row seat as these global artists create spectacular productions has absolutely been a career highlight,” he said.

Next up, Eric said he will continue to enjoy pushing into new territory.

“We’ve got a production opening at Sphere in late 2025, which I'm excited about,” he said. “Working in unique venues is a constant career highlight, whether it's a stunning Art Deco American theater from the 1920s or the most space-aged technological venue in the world.”

Eric credits Penn State with giving him foundational knowledge to start his career.

“The Penn State lighting department has a great relationship with ETC, one of the leading manufacturers in the lighting world. With their assistance, we were able to have early access to the next generation of lighting consoles, which are still the standard on Broadway. Though truthfully the connections are what still influence me the most,” he said. “It's rare not to find a design and tech alumni on any major production these days. Especially in the touring music world as most American tours launch from Lititz, which is absolutely littered with PSU alumni.”

For current students and alumni, he shared this advice: “Explore all the possibilities of what you can do with a theatrical education. While pure theatre is great, I really enjoy the diversity of the entertainment industry as a whole. Saying yes to productions that are outside of your wheelhouse leads to some really crazy opportunities, personally I keep finding more and more obscure avenues that need lighting.”